Abstract:
In order to understand the relationships be
tween climatic factors and the biological
variables of plant communities in the Qara Soo Catchment Area, a systematic sampling of
natural plant community variables such as crown closure, diversity, reproduction rate
and crown height has been taken. Information about physical components of the ecosys-
tems such as climatic elements, soil propert
ies and topographic char
acteristics was also
collected for each plant community. By us
ing the Numerical Taxonomy Model suggested
by Sneath and Sokal (1963), the plant communities were classified and sorted according
to a “development index” which indicates th
e plant community development toward the
climax stage of ecosystem. Then the relationships between ecosystem physical components
and the biological variables of communities (d
evelopment index) were understood by us-
ing a multiple regression model. It was concluded that climatic elements are the dominant
factor affecting on the formation, distribut
ion, reproduction and stability of plant com-
munities in the area. It was further conc
luded that the Numerical Taxonomy Model,
which has been commonly used by social scientists
, is a suitable tool for system analysis in
plant communities and natural ecosystems.
